There were nine Arrowhead High School (AHS) students named National Merit Finalists for the 2023-2024 year. Those students were class of 2024’s Anay Bansal, Tanner Esper, Benjamin Faessler, Anakin Fischer, Benjamin Harkavy, Lily Liu, Alexander MacKay, Benjamin Otte, and Katherine Schoeppel.
Harkavy said, “My parents told me about it, as they had both received it, along with my older brother. I took the PSAT, and now have to fill out profiles and write an essay and I scored in the top 1% of Wisconsin on the PSAT. I’d entirely forgotten about the PSAT when I received the email, so I first looked up what it was. Then, I thought ‘Oh, nice.’”
According to the National Merit Scholarship Corporation (NMSC), their mission is to recognize and honor the academically talented students in the United States. Overall goals of the NMSC are to promote a wider and deeper respect for learning in general, to shine a spotlight on brilliant students and encourage students to pursue academic excellence. They also want to stimulate increased support from individuals and organizations that wish to sponsor scholarships.
“As a National Merit semifinalist, we all have the opportunity to become finalists. The National Merit Program gives out up to 7000 scholarships to their finalists every year so we all have a good chance of qualifying for some sort of scholarship,” Otte said.
According to The Arrowhead Advisor, AHS is ranked 8th of 574 schools in Wisconsin which is a seven spot improvement from 2022-23 when AHS was ranked 15th. These rankings are from US News and World Report’s 2023-24 best high schools across the nation.
In the past year, there have been over one million students from across the nation taking part in the National Merit Scholarship Program. They have done this by taking the National PSAT assessment.
Otte said, “The National Merit semifinalist gives me another achievement to put on my college application, as I am applying within the next month. I was thrilled to hear the news, but more surprised. I had not seen my PSAT scores before so I did not realize how well I did. I immediately texted my mom and dad telling them I qualified for the National Merit semifinalist.”
The Arrowhead Advisor said “16,000 students nationally, about 1% of those who tested, are recognized as National Merit Semifinalists. More than 15,000 of these students are expected to be designated as Finalists in February based on their test scores, accomplishments, and potential for success in rigorous college studies. National Merit Finalists are eligible for nearly 7,000 scholarships between corporate, college, and National Merit sponsored scholarships.”
According to the National Merit Scholarship Program, the annual competition has been going on since 1955. The program is conducted by the National Merit Scholarship Corporation, which is a non-profit organization that is able to operate without government assistance. The National Merit Scholarship Program opens up doors of recognition and over 7,500 scholarships that are offered.
“I heard about the possibility of a scholarship through my sister, who also qualified when she took the test a couple years before I did. I was pretty excited when I heard the news not only because it gave me an opportunity for a pretty significant scholarship but it was also a validation of the effort I put into the test as my score was high enough to be recognized for national merit status,” Bansal said.